This time last week I received a letter that upset me quiet a bit, we had lost the little tax credits we were allowed to due to the changes made by the government.
If you’re a fan of our facebook page you may have seen a little discussion we had on the whole tax credit situation and I was honestly surprised at how many people have been affected by these changes.
The thing is some of you reading this will be thinking one of a few things:
- You work, you probably don’t need them.
- No one deserve’s to be entitled to tax credits
- Tough luck
To start with your right, I do work as does my other half. In fact I’ve been working since I was in year 11 in school. I used to finish school at 3.30 and then be in work from 4.30 – 6.30 five nights a week. I’m not scared of a hard days work.
What the government do not seem to take into their calculations everything I have to pay out! I don’t get any other help (other than child benefit) so I pay the full price for everything and my mortgage costs almost 90% of my monthly salary. So in effect we are living of one salary.
This is what really gets on my nerves about the government, it’s always means tested on your income, surely it should be done on your disposable income?
It’s a bit like those old child trust funds they used to give out. All children got £250 first installment however you got £500 if you qualified via the means testing, surely all children should be given the same start in life? Regardless of what their parents do, they are going to grow up and pay their taxes back like everyone else so why not start them all off with the same opportunities?
Another great example is those EMA grants that you can claim if you are still at college to help with travel, books etc. I don’t think its much, used to be about £30 a week & you had to attend college otherwise you never got paid. However again that’s means tested on your parents salary not disposable income. I wonder how many kids had to walk miles to college as they never qualified as their parents “earn” too much however after paying all the bills out just couldn’t afford to pay the ridiculous bus fares they want these days. All those kids wanted to do was better themselves, after all its drilled into them that education means everything, its your future.
Sometimes I think why? Why did I bother studying? Why did I bother getting a job whilst I was at school then straight after school? Why did I bother getting myself a decent job?
It seems that the more you pay in taxes the less help you get back. We’ll struggle by and get through, just! However for those who are living even tighter than us probably now feel like they’ve lost their last bit of help and nothing I can do can help that 🙁
Maybe I should run for government, I couldn’t do a worse job than this and the last one!
We are in the same position as you, and the cuts on Tax Credits really affect us. The most annoying thing about it is that the people who abuse the system always get away with it and us honest ones always lose out!
Ooh, I hated EMA when I was in college. I never got it and it always made me angry that my friends would spend their money on clothes and nights out and their parents still paid for college stuff. Making the assumption parents who work give their children £30 a week is ludicrous!
I’m in a similar boat with the tax credits now, I’m ever so annoyed as my other half and I aren’t the best paid, I think we’re £73 over the cut off. £73 is nothing 🙁
The government is useless- having never lived in the real world with real families I’m surprised they implement any help at all!
It is annoying and I see it in my job as a housing benefits officer. People can’t even get free school meals if they get working tax credits!
It is ridiculous. I am not sure if I would have been affected as I was made redundant just as the changes kicked it! It always really wound me up that parents who work would often end up getting more hardship, jumping through more hoops and being written off. “Having a job” is far from being the same thing as “being well off”. Now I am looking for work, I am finding the criteria for tax credits infuriating. To get childcare help, you need to work 16 hours a week….well if you worked under and paid for nursery on top of that, surely you could end up cancelling out your wages?! It would be nice for a change if the goverment could appreciate the cost of living for the majority of us, not the minority that they have grown up in.